


firsts

by SongofThunder



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: A secret santa for Danthevampire on Discord!, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 16:11:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17686739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SongofThunder/pseuds/SongofThunder
Summary: The first time he wakes up, he doesn't know his own name. There will be other firsts long after that beginning.





	firsts

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this story as a secret santa. I don't know the name of the person other than their discord name, though.

The first time he wakes up, he doesn’t know his own name.

It will be a long time before he can wake up without forgetting it again.

 

* * *

 

The first time he swings a sword, it’s not a sword at all, but a stick.

It’s something he picks up off the ground. A branch, two tendrils at the end, still leafy from the tree it fell off of.

It feels… right. Familiar. It feels better to hold something in his hand, feels better to have something swinging at his side. But when has he ever had that before?

He cracks that first branch over a bokoblin’s neck when it tries to kill him. Somehow his body knows what to do when his brain doesn’t. And when it’s over, he doesn’t like what he feels.

He feels like he broke a promise.

He feels like a murderer.

But as far as he knows, he’s been alone his whole life.

There’s no one he would be able to make a promise to.

 

* * *

 

The first time he enters a shrine, the old man guides him. If only to the front door.

Link rolls his eyes and enters.

Selfish man. But a bargain is a bargain, and he needs to leave this plateau as soon as possible.

The old man’s hands are pristine and smooth when he shakes them, like the hands of someone unused to work, and he can’t help but think of how  _ unnatural _ this is.

This man, this familiar stranger, feels like an aristocrat, cold and unfeeling and bargaining, endless bargaining. Link hates him for some reason. When he looks at this person, despite him teaching him to shoot a bow and hunt and crouch and use that slate on his hip, he feels nothing but disdain.

The fire crackles. “If you need help with this,” the old man tells him, “come to me again, alright?”

Link never needs to.

And he doesn’t think that he would even if he had.

 

* * *

 

The first time he enters Kakariko Village, there is absolutely no familiarity to it.

Link doesn’t think he spent much time here, before the Calamity.  If that king didn’t lie to him, and if he’s not going crazy.

Turns out he’s not. Impa tells him a story, reminds him he knows her, sends him on his way.

It doesn’t take him long to leave.

Kakariko’s homey. But he thinks it’ll still take a while to get used to it.

 

* * *

 

The first time he sees Mipha, he doesn’t recognize her.

And it’s not  _ her, _ anyways. Mipha never stared ahead with cold, empty eyes, or clenched her spear in that unforgiving way.

Mipha never stopped moving, never stopped flowing like the water that was her home. She was always smiling, or fidgeting, or turning blue (he’d learned later that was the Zoran way of blushing). She was never  _ still. _

No wonder it took him days to finally realize whose face was built into that statue.

Muzu looks at him with disdain because of it. Link doesn’t blame him.

He let her down.

He would hate himself, too.

 

* * *

 

The first time he remembers, it’s at Lake Kolomo.

The rest of them were strange and unrecognizable on the map. There was no way he could find some random forest, or some sort of horse statue. Neither of the Hyrule Castle memories will be easy to get, and frankly Link doesn’t think he’s ready.

But Link sees the Dueling Peaks immediately in the distance. He traces whether the photo came from the west or east in seconds. It takes days to run past monsters and dodge obstacles, but there are only a few lakes on the map directly in the way of the peaks. If one doesn’t work, that leaves three more.

Two.   
One.

Until he gets there, and it’s almost painful to  _ remember. _

He remembers pain. He remembers curiosity when the princess talked of her scientific jargon.

He remembers her and the way she looked at him.

Whoever this Zelda character is, he doesn’t think he likes her.

 

* * *

 

The first time he sees Urbosa, he’s reminded of how  _ powerful _ she is.

This tall, imposing woman looks as if she could snap her fingers and kill him.

When she gifts him her lightning, Link admits to himself that she 100% could have.

Knowing Urbosa, she probably still can.

Link realizes now why Zelda loved her. Fierce and protective and strong and a heart of gold- every quality a mother should have. Especially when your own is gone.

A strong sense of nostalgia hits him then, and Link wishes he remembered even a drop of his own mother.

 

* * *

 

The first time he walks into Hyrule Castle, he spends hours before coming out.

Every turn is a new danger. He nearly dies several times.

But he learns. Link has to learn. It’s either he learns now, or he learns later when a stray Guardian shoots him in the back of his head. He refuses to let himself forget what’s there. He refuses to be afraid of what lies in this gilded, ancient prison. He refuses to let himself be unprepared.

So he stays, and he learns the castle inside and out.

Even so, it’s weeks before he can breathe normally again.

 

* * *

 

The first time he sets foot on Death Mountain, he decides it’s infinitely worse than Hyrule Castle.

At least the Castle took strategy and dodging. You can’t dodge if the very  _ air _ is on fire.

Why, he asks himself, would anyone choose to live on a  _ literal volcano? _

 

* * *

 

The first time he sees Daruk, he’s probably way too rude to him.

Link is sick of the heat. He’s sick of the lava and everything fiery. He can’t wait to leave.

Daruk probably knows this. But, because he’s Daruk, he probably doesn’t care. Link admires him for that. For his bravery and selflessness and disregard for what anyone thinks of him.

But he’ll admire him later, when he’s not in the  _ center of Death Mountain. _

 

* * *

 

The first time he rides a horse, he can’t believe he waited this long.

He’d tried catching the horses before, but it had been tiring and he’d just walked, but now- It’s so much  _ faster _ to ride, it’s so much  _ freer, _ it makes him feel so  _ alive. _ With the wind whipping past his hair and him laughing so hard he can barely stay in the saddle, it still takes him three weeks less than it would have to ride to Rito Village. And even then, the thrill of riding blocks out the bitter cold. (Although that could also have been the circlet Isha had given him as a thanks for saving her shop.)

He names his first horse Epona. He has no idea why.

It just seems like a good name. A familiar one.

 

* * *

 

The first time he sees Revali, he remembers him instantly.

Weird, seeing as he’d apparently hated Revali the most out of all four Champions.

Still, after so much kindness, it kind of feels refreshing to have sarcasm and arrogance.

Especially when he remembers that Revali is absolutely not lying and absolutely could kick his ass in an archery contest and absolutely could outfly any Rito he’s ever met.

Link can’t help but smile when he finally disembarks from Medoh.

 

* * *

 

The first time he sees the Master Sword, he barely remembers much of it.

He remembers plenty of Zelda. Plenty of Mipha. Daruk. Urbosa. Revali. Plenty of Hyrule.

Not much of the sword.

Nothing of the first time he saw it before  _ it _ happened,

Plenty of feeling its weight but never truly noticing it.

Not until-

Link frowns at that. Until what? If only he could remember.

He remembers much, and yet remembers little.

The Great Deku Tree, with its soothing voice, tells him the history. Comments of Zelda- of course. There is never too much of Zelda, it seems. He remembers a little more of her each day, and it’s a comfort to know more of who he considered his closest friend, but he doesn’t want to hear about Zelda right now.

All he sees is the sword.

He reaches out to touch it again, and it hums beneath him.

Like an old friend.

 

* * *

 

The first time he sees Ganon, it’s not a first time.

Rather, it’s perhaps a thousandth time. Link sees that heart inside, pulsing with an energy that fees inherently  _ wrong, _ and he’s not afraid. He’s furious.

Because he is the hero, and Ganon is the evil.

It doesn’t feel that way, of course, because all he wants is revenge, and that is surely not a noble cause.

But revenge is still a tremendous motivator.

The first time Ganon awoke while he lived, his friends were slaughtered. And the only one who survived was trapped.

This time, if he fails: four more will die. And thousands more innocents.

If revenge is not a noble cause, then that most certainly is.

He will walk in that throne room for the first time in one hundred years and he will  _ win. _

Link sets his jaw. Draws his sword.

And takes his first step into that final battle.


End file.
